Bronzization: Essays in Bronze Age Archaeology

A collection of state-of-the-art articles which integrate new insights from the many advances in research on the subject into a new and up-to-date vision of the Bronze Age as a Europeanised or even globalised period. Papers revise current understanding of bronzization and bronzification in line with a holistic view of recent scientific advances.

Bronzization is a collection of state-of-the-art articles which integrate new insights from the many advances in research on the subject into a new and up-to-date vision of the Bronze Age as a Europeanised or even globalised period. Though written by different authors, the papers form a cohesive whole, discussing new data and critically reflecting on old data in a new way. In so doing, they revise current understanding of the crucial prehistoric process of bronzization and bronzification in line with a holistic view of the new scientific advances the past decades have brought about. The investigations of bronzization within the book show that it can take many forms and can be examined from many different perspectives. From the British Isles to Central Europe and from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, Bronzization highlights case studies and examples which show how Europe was united in its unique representation of local differences and that that unity was highly dependent upon long-distance relationships of varying characters. The book includes contributions from the world’s foremost Bronze Age researchers who give concrete examples by which to compare local practices and global processes. While such connections have been hypothesised in the past, it is only now, at the current state of scientific research, that we can draw the first transnational insights into the globalised Bronze Age in this way. Furthermore, the book weaves in discussions linking the theoretical concept of bronzization with the latest scientific investigations on Bronze Age mobility. The unique range of authors, from natural scientists to classical archaeologists, mirrors the depth and breadth of variations from the Bronze Age world, allowing the reader to experience globalised research on the Bronze Age as a globalised period in and of itself.

List of Figures Tabula Gratulatoria Introduction: Bronze, the Bronze Age and Bronzization - Samantha Scott Reiter and Heide W. Norgaard Helle Vandkilde - A groundbreaking pioneer in Danish archaeology - Katrine Balsgaard Juul Part 1: A Globalised Bronze Age - theoretical reflections on the concept of bronzization Chapter 1: Written in blood? An exploration of the possibility of European Identity in the Bronze Age through examination of political habitus, origin myth, material culture, economics, mobility, aDNA, and linguistics - Samantha S. Reiter Chapter 2: Bronze times, bronze minds: Thinking about 'Bronzization' - Laura Ahlqvist Chapter 3: Local practices and global processes: Cornwall in the Bronze Age world - Catherine J. Frieman Chapter 4: Shaft Grave period Greece in the interconnected world of Bronze Age Europe: The need for a 'glocalized' perspective - Joseph Maran Chapter 5: Did the Egtved girl feel homesick? Reflections on the unanswerable questions to the Bronze Age - Marie-Louise Stig Sorensen Chapter 6: Coping with crisis: diverging economic and social trajectories in the Nordic Bronze Age - Kristian Kristiansen Part 2: A Mobile Bronze Age - the Archaeological and Scientific Evidence of Mobility Chapter 7: Bronzization and the people: Bioarchaeological perspectives on Bronze Age individuals and populations in Southern Sweden- Anna Tornberg Chapter 8: Nothing comes from nowhere. A discussion of the European Bronze Age's cross-cultural communication, transfer of knowledge and trans-cultural artefacts - Paulina Suchowska-Ducke Chapter 9: Late Bronze Age 'Horsification' connects south Scandinavia, Italy, and Greece - Flemming Kaul Chapter 10: Bronze Age Russia: cultural receptivity and identity in the Yamnaya and Catacomb communities of the Lower Don region - Dalia Pokutta, Dmitry Zenyuk and Kerstin Liden Chapter 11: A network of watercrafts: New perspectives on the Bronze Age boat from Varpelev, Denmark - Ole Thirup Kastholm and Morten Ravn Chapter 12: Narrating mobility and marital practices in the Early Bronze Age - Philipp W. Stockhammer Part 3: Bronzification Chapter 13: On the diffusion of technological knowledge in prehistory - Svend Hansen Chapter 14: The Copper Age in the western Baltic - Anne Birgitte Gebauer, Mads Lou Bendtsen and Lasse Vilien Sorensen Chapter 15: How the 'bronzification' of Scandinavia happened: From travelling bronze smiths to communities of practice - Lene Melheim and Heide W. Norgaard Chapter 16: Gilded Bronze Networks? The golden artefacts from Arildskov Boest, Denmark - Constanze Rassmann Chapter 17a: The Nuragic civilization (1800-720 BCE): a fascinating Bronze Age culture in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea - Valentina Matta Chapter 17b: Reflections on four Sardinian bronzes - Soren Dietz Chapter 18: Bronze to Scandinavia - Heide W. Norgaard, Johan Ling, Daniel Berger, Ernst Pernicka, Zofia Stos Gale and Lene Melheim Part 4: The Coded Bronze Age - Society, Value and Worldview Chapter 19: Take me to your leader: Authority and inequality in Late Bronze Age Britain - Mike Parker Pearson Chapter 20: Gender as material expression in the Early and Late Bronze Age compared - Louise Felding Chapter 21: What bronze can't buy? The morality and ethics of metalwork destruction and deposition in Bronze Age Britain - Neil Wilkin Chapter 22: Fragmenting metalwork in Late Bronze Age Europe - a secondary products revolution?- Anna Sorman Chapter 23: Images and numbers - Who are the anthropomorphic figures depicted in Nordic Bronze Age rock art? - Christian Horn Chapter 24: The prince and the myth of the serpent - Some new thoughts on the origin of Nordic Bronze Age mythology within the Nebra hoard - Harald Meller Part 5: The Lived Bronze Age - of Settlements and Burials Chapter 25: Burial mounds and the social practices of the Central European Early Bronze Age - Johannes Muller and Janusz Czebreszuk Chapter 26: Mound duree: a manifestation of a timeless aristocratic ethos? - Casper Sorensen Chapter 27: Burning flames - more than barrow building - Jutta Kneisel Chapter 28: Sampling at Lista, Norway: Inconspicuous fragments of large-scale agrarian history - Christopher Prescott Chapter 29: From architectural experiments to timber-consuming monuments: The changing building traditions at the dawn of the Nordic Bronze Age - Silja Arnfridardottir Christensen and Martin Egelund Poulsen Chapter 30: The end of an era: a village from the end of the Bronze Age - Tobias Torfing, Anna Thusgaard Kristensen and Jesper Olsen,

List of Figures

Tabula Gratulatoria   

Introduction: Bronze, the Bronze Age and Bronzization – Samantha Scott Reiter and Heide W. Nørgaard

Helle Vandkilde – A groundbreaking pioneer in Danish archaeology – Katrine Balsgaard Juul

Part 1: A Globalised Bronze Age – theoretical reflections on the concept of bronzization

Chapter 1: Written in blood? An exploration of the possibility of European Identity in the Bronze Age through examination of political habitus, origin myth, material culture, economics, mobility, aDNA,
and linguistics – Samantha S. Reiter

Chapter 2: Bronze times, bronze minds: Thinking about ‘Bronzization’ – Laura Ahlqvist

Chapter 3: Local practices and global processes: Cornwall in the Bronze Age world – Catherine J. Frieman

Chapter 4: Shaft Grave period Greece in the interconnected world of Bronze Age Europe:
The need for a ‘glocalized’ perspective – Joseph Maran

Chapter 5: Did the Egtved girl feel homesick? Reflections on the unanswerable questions to the
Bronze Age – Marie-Louise Stig Sørensen

Chapter 6: Coping with crisis: diverging economic and social trajectories in the Nordic Bronze Age – Kristian Kristiansen

Part 2: A Mobile Bronze Age – the Archaeological and Scientific Evidence of Mobility

Chapter 7: Bronzization and the people: Bioarchaeological perspectives on Bronze Age individuals and populations in Southern Sweden – Anna Tornberg

Chapter 8: Nothing comes from nowhere. A discussion of the European Bronze Age’s cross-cultural communication, transfer of knowledge and trans-cultural artefacts – Paulina Suchowska-Ducke

Chapter 9: Late Bronze Age ‘Horsification’ connects south Scandinavia, Italy, and Greece – Flemming Kaul

Chapter 10: Bronze Age Russia: cultural receptivity and identity in the Yamnaya and Catacomb communities of the Lower Don region – Dalia Pokutta, Dmitry Zenyuk and Kerstin Lidén

Chapter 11: A network of watercrafts: New perspectives on the Bronze Age boat from Varpelev, Denmark – Ole Thirup Kastholm and Morten Ravn

Chapter 12: Narrating mobility and marital practices in the Early Bronze Age – Philipp W. Stockhammer

Part 3: Bronzification

Chapter 13: On the diffusion of technological knowledge in prehistory – Svend Hansen

Chapter 14: The Copper Age in the western Baltic – Anne Birgitte Gebauer, Mads Lou Bendtsen and Lasse Vilien Sørensen

Chapter 15: How the ‘bronzification’ of Scandinavia happened: From travelling bronze smiths to communities of practice – Lene Melheim and Heide W. Nørgaard

Chapter 16: Gilded Bronze Networks? The golden artefacts from Arildskov Boest, Denmark – Constanze Rassmann

Chapter 17a: The Nuragic civilization (1800-720 BCE): a fascinating Bronze Age culture in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea – Valentina Matta

Chapter 17b: Reflections on four Sardinian bronzes – Søren Dietz

Chapter 18: Bronze to Scandinavia – Heide W. Nørgaard, Johan Ling, Daniel Berger, Ernst Pernicka, Zofia Stos Gale and Lene Melheim

Part 4: The Coded Bronze Age – Society, Value and Worldview

Chapter 19: Take me to your leader: Authority and inequality in Late Bronze Age Britain – Mike Parker Pearson

Chapter 20: Gender as material expression in the Early and Late Bronze Age compared – Louise Felding

Chapter 21: What bronze can’t buy? The morality and ethics of metalwork destruction and deposition in Bronze Age Britain – Neil Wilkin

Chapter 22: Fragmenting metalwork in Late Bronze Age Europe – a secondary products revolution?  – Anna Sörman

Chapter 23: Images and numbers – Who are the anthropomorphic figures depicted in Nordic Bronze Age rock art? – Christian Horn

Chapter 24: The prince and the myth of the serpent – Some new thoughts on the origin of Nordic Bronze Age mythology within the Nebra hoard – Harald Meller

Part 5: The Lived Bronze Age – of Settlements and Burials

Chapter 25: Burial mounds and the social practices of the Central European Early Bronze Age – Johannes Müller and Janusz Czebreszuk

Chapter 26: Mound durée: a manifestation of a timeless aristocratic ethos? – Casper Sørensen

Chapter 27: Burning flames – more than barrow building – Jutta Kneisel

Chapter 28: Sampling at Lista, Norway: Inconspicuous fragments of large-scale agrarian history – Christopher Prescott

Chapter 29: From architectural experiments to timber-consuming monuments: The changing building traditions at the dawn of the Nordic Bronze Age – Silja Arnfridardottir Christensen and Martin Egelund Poulsen

Chapter 30: The end of an era: a village from the end of the Bronze Age – Tobias Torfing, Anna Thusgaard Kristensen and Jesper Olsen

• Edited by Heide W. Nørgaard
• Edited by Samantha S. Reiter